CHHAPAR (LUDHIANA), September 19: Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today said that the next General Elections will be a contest between the forces which are fighting for empowering the common man led by the Congress and those who are watching and articulating the interests of the capitalist forces led by the opposition. He said, the Akali-BJP government in Punjab was the representative of the same capitalist forces who could not look beyond their own interests.
IN an informal conversation with reporters along the sidelines of the Chhappar mela here today, Tewari pointed out, the Congress led United Progressive Alliance government at the centre during the last nine years had consistently tried and empowered the common man with many laws and legislations which had no parallels in history across the world.
Earlier addressing the function he said, whether it was the Right to Information in 2005, or the right to 100 days employment in a year, or the Right to Education or the Food Security Act or the Land Acquisition Act, all these were aimed at improving the plight of common man and empowering him despite strong opposition by the capitalist forces who want the benefits to remain restricted to a limited few. Tewari said, the UPA government took these initiatives despite strong resistance and argument that this will have massive strain on the economy.
He said, the UPA under the leadership of the Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Ministership of Dr Manmohan Singh fought against all the odds and ensured that the common man got his rights. He assured that the UPA government had already taken care of the economy and worked out the expenses for these welfare schemes. He pointed the recently passed Food Security Act will provide highly subsidised food to over 80 crore people across the country. He said, such a welfare measure has no parallel anywhere in the world aimed at eliminating the hunger from the country. The Minister told the people that the decision will be theirs in the coming elections to choose between the two. “On the one side there is Congress which is fighting for empowerment of the common man and on the other side there are capitalist forces who just watch their own interest alone”, he said.